Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Edward Hirsch’s "Memorandums" is a poignant exploration of grief, memory, and the act of preserving affection in the face of loss and mortality. Drawing from the tradition of John Clare’s heartfelt reflections, the poem serves as a testament to tenderness and resilience amid the ravages of time and death.

The epigraph from Clare, “I feel anxious to insert these memorandums of my affections,” establishes the poem’s intent as a deliberate act of remembrance. The word “memorandums” suggests both a cataloging of emotional experiences and an effort to stave off the erasure of time. Hirsch positions the poem as a bulwark “to stave off the absolute,” a phrase that encapsulates the human struggle against the inexorability of death and oblivion. This resistance is further underscored by the vivid imagery of nature’s relentlessness: “Winter descends in knives,” and the “flat palm of the wind” presses against the “forehead of night.” The natural world becomes a manifestation of existential threats, with ice, rain, and darkness symbolizing the creeping inevitability of loss.

The poem weaves together personal memories and universal grief, blurring the boundaries between the speaker’s individual losses and collective human suffering. The recurring phrase, “I put down these memorandums of my affections,” functions as both an invocation and a refrain, grounding the poem’s episodic structure. This line anchors Hirsch’s reflections on his loved ones—his mother, sisters, grandparents, and father—whose acts of care and tenderness are etched into his memory. These moments, though simple (a damp washcloth, a gentle touch on a blanket), become profound markers of love and connection, gestures that counterbalance the inevitability of separation.

Hirsch shifts from personal memory to broader meditations on mortality. The imagery of his “friend—my only brother—who died / Because cancer feasted on their ripe bodies” is both visceral and elegiac, a reminder of the corporeal fragility that underpins human existence. The description of their “ravaged stillness / And peacefulness” captures the paradoxical beauty and terror of death, where even the final moments carry an aura of serenity despite the violence of disease.

Throughout the poem, Hirsch engages with the tension between holding on and letting go. The recurring motif of flight—“We will be lifted up and carried a far distance / On invisible wings”—suggests both transcendence and impermanence. The heart, described as something “we will carry... over shadowy tunnels and bridges,” becomes a fragile vessel for the weight of grief. The concluding image of letting go, “like kites,” is both liberating and heart-wrenching, signaling an acceptance of life’s transience.

The poem’s structure, marked by its refrain and free verse, mirrors the cyclical nature of memory and grief. Hirsch’s language oscillates between the starkly physical—“the sound of a hammer thudding,” “murky chemicals”—and the deeply metaphysical, invoking stars “swallowed by constellations of darkness.” This interplay between the tangible and the abstract underscores the complexity of human mourning, where visceral experience and spiritual longing coexist.

In "Memorandums," Hirsch ultimately celebrates the endurance of love amidst the devastations of loss. The poem honors the quiet acts of care that define relationships, even as it acknowledges the pain of their eventual dissolution. By inscribing these moments into poetry, Hirsch performs an act of defiance against time’s erasure, ensuring that the “memorandums of affections” are preserved, not just for himself but for all who share in the universal “brotherhood of loss.” It is a work that affirms the power of memory and tenderness to create meaning in the face of the void, offering a vision of resilience that transcends the particular to embrace the collective human condition.

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